. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. SPIDERS. SCORPIONS. AND MITES (ARACHNIDA).. TRUE SPIDERS; ARANEIDEA. NOTHER of aiiiniated beings now comes befoi'e us, which, under tlie general term of Arachnida, com])rises the Spiders, Scorpions, and Mites. These beings breathe atmospheric air, they have no antennae, and they have four pairs of legs attached to the fore parts of the body. In some of the higher Arachnida, there is a bold division into thorax and abdomen, and the former portion of the body is clearly divided into
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. SPIDERS. SCORPIONS. AND MITES (ARACHNIDA).. TRUE SPIDERS; ARANEIDEA. NOTHER of aiiiniated beings now comes befoi'e us, which, under tlie general term of Arachnida, com])rises the Spiders, Scorpions, and Mites. These beings breathe atmospheric air, they have no antennae, and they have four pairs of legs attached to the fore parts of the body. In some of the higher Arachnida, there is a bold division into thorax and abdomen, and the former portion of the body is clearly divided into separate segments. By the earlier naturalists, the Arachnida were placed among the insects, but may readily be distinguished by several peculiarities. In the first place, they have more than the normal number of six legs, which alone would be sufficient to separate them from insects. They have no separate head ; the head and thorax being fused, as it were, into one mass, called the cephalo-thorax. In many of the lower species there is not even a division between the thorax and abdomen ; and the body, thorax, and abdomen are merged into one uniform mass, without even a mark to show their several boundaries. They undergo no metamorphosis, like that of the insects, for, although the young Spiders change their skin several times, there is no change of form. Beginning with the true Spiders, we find that their jialpi [ the jointed antennje-like organs that project from the cephalo-thorax) are more or less thread-like, and in the males are swollen at the extremity into a remarkable structure, as indii^ative of the sex as is the beard of man, the curled tail-feathers of the drake, and the gorgeous train of the peacock. In the different genera, these palpi are differently formed, and afford valuable indications for system- atic zoologists. Several examples of these Spiders will be described in the course of the following pages. They are remarkable through their exceeding diversity
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
